


The Return

by BloodInTheFields



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: post 3x12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 18:33:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3081422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodInTheFields/pseuds/BloodInTheFields
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 3x12. Emma and Regina meet again, after Emma's return to Storybrooke. Pre-SwanQueen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Return

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written in French, so if the wording is weird, I apologize. I'm not a native English speaker. It was also written before 3B really started, so of course it's not going to correspond exactly to what happened on the show.

Ruby hadn’t lied. She was here, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She hadn’t noticed Emma who had softly opened the door of Granny’s diner, so softly that there hadn’t been any creaking to betray her presence. Emma took a moment to admire the silhouette in the shadow of the night. It was too dark for anyone to notice her if they didn’t know she was here, but Emma knew. Ruby had stepped into the restaurant a few minutes earlier and had walked straight to Emma, who was enjoyed a hot cocoa.

“Hey,” Ruby had said.  
“Ruby, how are you?”  
“Fine. Where’s Henry?”  
“I left him with your grandmother at the inn. She promised to watch him for me,” Emma answered with a tired smile.  
“So what are you doing?”  
“I just needed a moment alone.” 

Ruby’s demeanor changed suddenly and Emma noticed immediately. She took her friend’s hand in hers.

“Ruby? What’s wrong?”  
“Regina is outside. I can… smell her.”

It was still weird for her to talk about her supernatural abilities with anyone.

“But… It’s super late,” Emma answered as she looked around.

Except for the waitress washing the dishes in the kitchen, Ruby and herself, the place was empty. Ruby nodded knowingly.

“I know, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t come here for coffee. No one’s really seen her anyway. I mean, we’ve been back for four days and we barely caught a glimpse of her. She must know you’re here.”  
“So why doesn’t she come to me?”  
“I have no idea,” Ruby answered as she got up. “Why don’t you ask her?”

Emma offered her friend a small smile and Ruby waved at her as she slid behind the counter to do the sums of the day at the diner. The blonde emptied her mug and got up. She was anxious without really knowing why. After all, it wasn’t as if she was going to face a stranger. Emma took a deep breath and slowly pushed the door of the diner open.

__

She didn’t even open her eyes while Emma stopped three feet from her. The blonde gave the other woman a quick look-over to take in her appearance that was as flawless as ever. Black knee-high boots, pencil skirt of the same color and a purple blouse. On top of it, the brunette wore her black gabardine that she had chosen to leave open despite the coolness of the night. Emma hesitated for a brief moment before she took a step closer. She was about to speak but the words died in her throat as the woman in front of her opened her eyes. For the first time in a year, Emma’s emerald eyes met Regina Mills’ deep brown ones and her heart clenched.

Regina had always been controlled by her emotions, and despite her best efforts, these emotions played on her face as if she was wearing a sign around her neck to tell the world how she felt. And in this moment, outside of Granny’s diner, Emma could read in her eyes an unfathomable sadness and a certain distress. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, Regina was still the most beautiful woman that Emma had ever met. They gazed at each other for a few seconds that felt like an eternity; neither one of them daring to speak and break the silence that was enveloping them. It felt completely surreal to be here, in Storybrooke. Emma knew from her parents that they did not remember the past year, the time that had passed since she had been forced to leave. To Regina, only four days had passed since she had said goodbye to her son, convinced that she would never see him again. But for Emma, things were different. She remembered the last twelve months away from her family. She remembered a life that was not truly hers, that she had never truly lived. She understood now what the inhabitants of Storybrooke must have felt when she had broken the curse, two and a half years before. Forced to live with two identities. She didn’t know how to reconcile both. Emma was well-aware of the sacrifice that Regina had made in order to offer her a good life, for her and Henry.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

Regina’s voice stirred her from her thoughts and Emma looked at her in surprise.

“When I saw the hand of the clock tower move, four days ago, I couldn’t believe it,” Regina clarified; her voice no more than a murmur.

Emma tried to come up with something to say but her mind was frozen without her really knowing why. Perhaps she could feel that Henry’s adoptive mother wasn’t done yet.

“I don’t know how you managed to get your memories back but I know it’s not thanks to me. Which means that somebody else wanted you here. You or Henry. And the mere thought that something could happen to my son…”

Regina’s voice broke and she lowered her head. Instinctively, Emma stepped closer and finally found her voice.

“Regina… We’ll find whoever is responsible for all of this. As for Henry… He doesn’t remember.”

Emma would have given anything to erase the heavy silence that settled after her declaration. She winced internally, unsure of the reaction Regina would have. Right now, the other woman was still staring at the ground. After a minute, Emma called her name softly:

“Regina?”  
“I know. I knew the moment I saw your car parked in front of the inn. I realized that if you both remembered, then there would be no reason for you to stay there, that you’d be with your parents. The only logical conclusion was that one of you didn’t remember. Of course I knew that you would never have agreed to come here in the first place if you didn’t have your memories back.”  
“I’m sorry,” Emma offered after a beat.  
“It’s better this way. I suppose it won’t be easy to hide the truth from him about magic and about this town but just in case… in case something happens to me, it’s better if he doesn’t know who I really am. No need to make him suffer.”

Emma frowned as she heard these words. It sounded awfully pessimistic coming from someone as powerful and fearless as Regina.

“What do you know that I don’t?”  
“I went to find Hook as soon as I learned that he was the one who brought you back. At first I thought that he had kissed you and that it had worked, that he was your True Love…”  
“He tried,” Emma interrupted with a small smile.

Instead of smiling back, Regina’s expression darkened a bit more.

“This idiot should know that it doesn’t work on people who have lost their memories. Anyway, I asked him what had happened and he was frankly surprised that I was asking. Apparently, I gave him a potion and ordered him to find you.”  
“I’m not sure I understand.”  
“Don’t you get it? Emma, I never gave anything to Hook. When would I have had the time to make the potion, when we haven’t even been back for a week?”  
“But why would he lie?”  
“That’s the problem. I don’t think he lied. I think I gave him the vial.”  
“But…”

Emma trailed off, realization dawning on her face.

“Someone pretended to be you. Like Cora did to trick us and turn us against you.”

Regina merely nodded to confirm the theory, and then she added:

“Which means that this person wants something from me. Why would they impersonate me otherwise? Why not simply go to Hook and ask him? It’s just… I don’t understand what you’re doing here; the reason why this person brought you back to Storybrooke with Henry…”

The brunette straightened up suddenly; a look of panic on her face.

“Where is he?”  
“What?”  
“Henry, where is he?”  
“Don’t worry, he’s sleeping at the inn and Granny’s guarding his door. I asked for a room without window, just in case.”

Emma’s words seemed to appease Regina a little but she was visibly nervous. Instinctively, Emma reached for one of her hands and squeezed it; a gesture she hoped would be comforting. Regina’s brown eyes found hers and Emma was transported back to the previous year, to that fateful day when she had had to leave her newly found family and friends. During their goodbyes, Regina had been the one to take her hand in the hope of offering her some comfort. Emma knew that this particular moment had forever changed her opinion of Regina. Her son’s adoptive mother had sacrificed her chance at happiness so that Henry could live with Emma, so that he wouldn’t have to grow up alone like Emma had.

“Thank you,” Emma blurted out before she could even realize that she had opened her mouth.  
“What for?”  
“The memories. It was… It was a good life.”  
“I’m sorry”, Regina answered in an undertone.  
“What? Why?”  
“That you’re being dragged into this again. Henry and you weren’t ever supposed to come back. Your lives were supposed to be free of magic.”  
“I’m the Savior, apparently it’s a full-time job, memories or not!” Emma said in a joking tone, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Her remark earned a smile from Regina who suddenly pulled her close and wrapped her arms around Emma’s neck. Emma reacted instinctively to the hug and she delicately placed her hands on Regina’s back. She refused to analyze her former enemy’s gesture and even allowed herself to close her eyes. The recent events had shaken them up and Emma reassured herself by thinking that they were only seeking comfort with someone familiar. Emma didn’t make any comment when Regina pressed her cheek against hers.

“I don’t know how I’ll be able to be close to him without breaking,” Regina confessed in a murmur. 

Emma hugged her tighter and, without thinking about it, her right hand began to trace small circles on Regina’s back to appease her. She didn’t offer any comforting words, knowing that they would be useless. It would be up to her to make sure that Regina did not fall apart.

“Was there anything true, in the memories?” Emma asked without breaking away from Regina.  
“As much as possible,” Regina admitted.  
“His first word? First time he fell off his bike?”

Regina did not answer but Emma felt her shudder and she realized that the woman in her arms had just suppressed a sob. Emma’s free hand came to rest on the back of Regina’s neck and she held her against her when she felt Regina trying to step back. The brunette did not protest, on the contrary. Emma could feel the panic radiating off of her and she felt powerless to stop it.

“Breathe, Regina. It’ll be okay, I promise. We’ll find a solution. When everything’s back to normal I’ll explain the truth to Henry.”

After a moment of silence, she frowned and added:

“The most difficult moment will probably be when I tell him that I dated an evil flying monkey for eight month.”

Regina stepped back suddenly, ending the hug and bringing them both back to reality.

“What did you just say?”  
“Oh, it’s a long story, but apparently I’m a magnet for disasters,” Emma answered in a light tone, really hoping that Regina would drop the subject.

But Regina’s shocked look halted her nervous chuckle.

“Regina?” Emma asked with an eyebrow raised.  
“No. That’s impossible. She… No!”

Regina stepped back, effectively putting some distance between her and Emma and found herself with her back against the wall. She raked a hand through her hair and took a trembling breath.

“Regina, you’re scaring me.”  
“I know who it is. I know who brought us all back and wiped our memories.”

The night suddenly seemed much more threatening now, and Emma once again stepped closer to Regina. For the second time, she took her hand. She couldn’t remember having ever seen the brunette in such a state and it definitely wasn’t a pleasant image. Emma tried her best to keep her tone firm and reassuring.

“Come on, let’s go inside and you can explain everything to me.”

Regina nodded meekly and let Emma snake an arm around her waist to help her walk and, knowing the younger woman, probably to unconsciously protect her from the danger lurking outside in Storybrooke. The gesture was comforting and for a brief moment Regina relished in the feeling of security that Emma’s presence gave her as they both walked into the diner. With the Savior, with their powers combined, maybe they had a chance to save their city. She would have to teach Emma how to use her magic, but Regina knew that she could do it. She just needed enough time. For now, it was her only idea. Emma was her only hope.


End file.
